TEACHING METHODS

Introduction

In most Western education systems university classes are a combination of lectures,tutorials (sometimes called seminars) and online learning. Some units are taught completely online. Flexible approaches to teaching and learning are becoming increasingly important.

Lectures

There are two main differences between the lectures in which you have most likely participated in the past and the lectures in which students can expect to participate while enrolled at UTAS. These two things are:

  • the teaching style of Western lecturers
  • what is expected of students before, during and after lectures.

The Teaching Style of Western Lecturers

It is important to understand that not all Western lecturers teach in the same style. All lecturers have their own individual way of teaching. However, some generalisations can be made.

  • Western lecturers are likely to be more informal in their lecturing style. For example, students are not expected to stand when the lecturer enters the room. Students might refer to lecturers by their first name. Sometimes, lecturers might make a joke during a lecture. This doesn’t mean that students and lecturers lack respect for each other. It is simply a reflection of the more relaxed attitude to ‘authority’ that is often associated with some Western cultures.
  • Lecturers regularly use up-to-date technology to support their lectures. PowerPoint presentations, movie clips, Internet access and other tools are all commonly used. It is most unlikely that lecturers will stand at the front of the room and read from notes only.
  • Some Western lecturers teach in an interactive way. This means that they will often ask questions during lectures and will expect students to respond. They might ask students to discuss an issue with the person sitting next to them. They might ask students to solve a problem or complete a task. Students are required to do more than just listen.
  • Lecturers will usually provide lecture notes before lectures, but when they use an interactive style of teaching (see dot point 3 above) they cannot always predict what might be discussed in class. This is one reason why it is so important for students to attend all lectures. What is said and discussed in lectures cannot always be found in printed lecture notes or text books.
  • Lecturers are likely to challenge students’ thinking during lectures. This means that lecturers will notsimply give students information to memorise. They will not tell students what to think – that is the student’s job! They will expect students to thinkabout the information and ideas being presented. Tthis is called active learning or active participation. For example, they might present students with two opposing ideas or theories and require students to make their own decision about which idea or theory they personally support and why.

What is Expected of Students - Before, During and After Lectures

  • Students will need to prepare for lectures. This means read the lecture notes provided by the lecturer before lectures. They should also read sections of the text book or books and articles from the library that are related to the lecture topic before they attend the lecture. As students read this information they should be trying to understand what they are reading. They should ask themselves questions like, ‘How is this related to what I already know?’, ‘Can I think of examples from my own life that support this?’, ‘What is the link between this information and the information in the last lecture?’, ‘Do I agree with this idea?’, ‘Do all the authors I’ve read on this topic agree with one another?’, ‘Which parts do I not understand?’ ‘How might I try and find out the answer to those things I still don’t understand?’
  • During some lectures students will be expected to interact. This means students should try to answer any questions the lecturer asks. Students should talk to the person next to them if the lecturer asks them to do this. Even if students are not personally asked to provide the answer, they should be thinking about the answer in their own mind and deciding whether or not they agree with the answer provided by one of their classmates. Preparing for the lecture by reading and thinking before class will help students participate during class.Not all lecturers will ask students to answer questions or talk with the person next to them. However, students should still be trying to actively participate in their own mind. They should try to understand what the lecturer is saying, not just write downwhat is said. Part of trying to understand what is being discussed in the lecture, involvesstudentstaking their own notes. These notes should add to the notes provided by the lecturer. They should not be verbatim, but rather provide the key points and connections suggested in the lecture.
  • Afterthe lecture, students should read through their lecture notes again. They should do this as soon as possible after the lecture. This will help them retain the information and understand it. Lecturers will not expect students to write down or reproduce the lecture exactly.
  • It can also be useful after lectures for students to spend time with friends discussing the points raised in class. They might, for example, discuss which points in the lecture they thought were the most important and which points they found confusing.

Tutorials (sometimes called seminars)

What are tutorials?

Most units have tutorials as well as lectures. A tutorial is a much smaller class than a lecture – usually around 20-25 students, although this varies between units.

Tutorials are designed to support lectures. This means that tutorials provide an opportunity for students to explore the ideas/information presented in the lecture in more detail. For example: students might be given an opportunity to practise a skill that has been discussed in a lecture; they might be given some questions or a case study to discuss; or they might be given a problem to solve in a small group. Tutorials usually have an assessment component.

Why are tutorials important?

Tutorials are the best places for students to strengthen their understanding of lecture content. They are the best places for students to ask questions about the things they still don’t understand. They are also the best places for students to practise, develop and demonstrate to the teacher, their communication skills. Communication skills are one of the Generic Graduate Attributes that staff at UTAS are required to assess. (For more information on Generic Graduate Attributes see the section in these resources titled ‘Assessment’ or visit the UTAS website at:

How should students behave in a tutorial?

For all the reasons listed above students should actively participate in all tutorial classes. This means they must do more than simply sit and listen. They must go to tutorials expecting to participate. They must go to class expecting to ask and answer questions and complete all tasks enthusiastically. This is a fundamental requirement for success.

In a tutorial it is considered polite to listen carefully to classmates, to concentrate and to try and understand what they are saying. Students should also make a genuine effort to talk where appropriate. This helps students with their own learning and shows respect for their classmates. Remember too, that discussing and arguing a point of view are important parts of the Western education system. They help develop critical thinking skills as well as oral communication skills. Students are not being disrespectful when they engage in this type of behaviour in tutorials; they are learning.

Sometimes the tutor (teacher) is responsible for taking the tutorial class. Sometimes studentsare responsible for taking the tutorial class.

When the Tutor is Responsible for Taking the Tutorial Class.

Often, a schedule of tutorial topics is provided for students, just as with lectures. Sometimes these topics might be exactly the same as the lecture topics. Other times the tutorial topic might be just related to the lecture. It is helpful if students can spend some time preparing for the tutorial, just as they would for a lecture. As well as reading, preparing means having any questions they would like answered already written down!

The tutor will not just transfer information to students; they will involve students in the class. They may ask questions, set topics for discussion, set tasks for students to complete in small groups or set other activities.

When Students are Responsible for Taking the Tutorial Class

Often, students (individually, in pairs or in small groups) are required to take the tutorial class. This means that students have the role of teacher. Tutorial topics are usually set by the Unit co-ordinator. The tutor will be in the room when students make tutorial presentations. Tutorial presentations are usually assessed.

Online learning

What is online learning?

Online learningis learning that occurs via a computerthat is connected to the Internet. If a unit is taught completely online this means students do not have to attend classes. They can complete all their studies from home or wherever they have access to the Internet. Online learning isstudent-centred.It allows students to have control of their own learning.

What are the advantages of online learning?

One of the advantages of this type of learning is that it is flexible. Online learning can be flexible in two ways.

  • It can be flexible in terms of time and place. This means that students don’t have to be sitting in a classroom to complete their studies. They can learn whereverand whenever they have access to a computer and the Internet. In other words, learning can be self-paced.
  • It can be flexible in terms of the way that learning occurs. Online learning provides the opportunity for students to study and learn different things in different ways. This means that students enrolled in the same unit may all be completing different work tasks, readings and assessment.

How is online learning used at UTAS?

At UTAS the online learning platform used is WebCT. WebCT stands for WebCourse Tools. Some units are taught completelythrough WebCT. Most units, however, are a combinationof WebCT, lectures and tutorials. The way that WebCT is used variesfrom unit to unit. This is because WebCT has many different functions and different units use different functions.

These are some of the ways that WebCT can be used:

  • sending and receiving email
  • displaying print text and graphics(for example, copies of lecture notes, unit outlines, reading materials, tutorial guides, quizzes, tests, photographs, and maps)
  • providing useful links to other sites on the web
  • providing opportunities for students and staff to talkto each other, share ideas and discuss study topics through ‘discussion boards’ and ‘chat’.

The Unit Co-ordinator or UTAS visiting lecturer will provide information about the way WebCT is used in theunit in which you’re teaching. The Student Induction Materials provide detailed information for students about how to useWebCT.

What makes a successful online learner?

Students who participate successfully in online learning usually demonstrate the following characteristics:

  • They are independent learners. In other words, they take responsibility for their own learning. They do not rely on a teacher to tell them where, when and what to study. They make their own decisions.
  • They maintain regular contact in the WebCT environment.
  • They know what the requirements are to complete their online unit successfully and they are reliable in making sure that these requirements are met.
  • They manage their time carefully. They set aside regular times to complete their studies.
  • They arefamiliar with the online platform that is used (e.g. WebCT). They have learnt how to use all the facilities such as chat, discussion boards, and email.
  • They are aware of the ‘rules’ which govern the online learning environment For example, no rude or defamatory comments. This means no comments that can damage a person’s reputation.
  • They actively participate in all the facilities of WebCT.

Please talk with the UTAS Unit Co-ordinator/visiting lecturer to discover whether you have a teaching role in WebCT.

Chat Rooms

Chat rooms offer a useful tool for Transnational Education (TNE). Any online learning can benefit from the interaction available by using chat rooms, but students based overseas can gain particular benefits. You can offer the ability to interact in an environment which:

  • offers some anonymity,
  • allows a chance to compose messages, especially in another language,
  • allows interaction between students in different sites,
  • extends teaching practice, and
  • allows an opportunity to develop relationships with students before, during and after offshore visits.

Chat rooms also offer an opportunity to link students from offshore sites with those studying at Tasmanian campuses. Successful and regular ‘chats’ have been organised between students offshore and their compatriots studying in Tasmania. This offers a chance to compare notes about Western education systems, and mentoring of less experienced students, by those more experienced. It also allows both teachers and students to develop their social presence.

What is ‘social presence’?

Social presence, in its simplest definition, is the perception of being present in any social interaction with others. The concept of social presence is also linked to immediacy, and intimacy. The challenge for teachers using online methods is to create an environment which fosters social presence when individuals are geographically separated. This challenge is multiplied when using any asynchronous communication methods.

It can be challenging to think of methods to create a feeling of ‘really being there’, or ensure we react to students as ‘real people’ in an online environment. We need to develop methods of interacting with students as individuals and to express our own individuality online, through the structures, activities, assignments and discussions included in online courses.

One method is to create informal spaces, such as:

  • introduction activities,
  • online study group,
  • informal and un-assessed discussion areas,
  • feedback, and
  • online tutorials.

These can run parallel to formal assessment mechanisms, or form part of the formal assessments. Chat rooms and discussions are tools enabling the expression of social presence by teachers and students. But for maximum benefit, the use of these tools must be structured to encourage individual two-way interaction, whether synchronous or asynchronous.

Effective online environments

Taking the concept of social presence one step further, the term ‘telepresence’ has been coined. This originally referred to an operator using a machine which could give the impression of working where the mechanism is. Using underwater robots or machines down mines allows an operator to see and react to signs and stimulus which may be present. This concept has expanded and is now used to describe technology which can generate the “… sense of shared presence or shared space among geographically separated members of a group” (Buxton cited in Tammelin, 1998).

Telepresence can be used about any technology which is designed to promote interaction between real and geographically separated individuals.

In other words, effective online environments create a space where people can interact with others as if they were actually present, and where they interact with those others as individuals. It can be the cyberspace version of a party – or a party-line telephone call. Effective environments using this technology encourage social presence, immediacy and intimacy even though there is no physical contact between members.

A website with some interesting information is Gilly Salmon’s e-tivities website,

Promoting collaboration

Effective collaboration through chat rooms and online discussion groups needs a strong framework. It doesn’t ‘just happen’. Teachers:

  • design structures for collaboration,
  • communicate clear goals and ground rules,
  • monitor interactions,
  • harness energy,
  • guide those who stray,
  • provide feedback, and
  • debrief as necessary.

Chat Rooms and Social Presence

Chat rooms may lend themselves to creating social presence more easily than discussions because they are synchronous (i.e. occur in ‘real time’). However, they need to be announced to students well ahead of time, have clear guidelines for acceptable contributions and their role in assessment must be clear to students.

For example, you may announce that a chat will held at a particular time, on a particular date. It will cover certain topics and will last for 2 hours. Obscene, disparaging and personal attacks are unacceptable. You will be monitoring and evaluating all postings. All students in group x and y are expected to contribute to the discussion, which will form part of the overall assessment. Students may contact you ahead of time by email if they have any questions or concerns.